Rita I can't answer for everyone, and definately for the pro's but I can tell you that I was told by the guys in the know (Bill and Mongo) that 12 inch tiles on the floor of the shower are too large. They can't get a proper slope to the drain with tiles of that size. They recommended 8" at the most and talked me into 6" :o)

I don't know that the walls matter, but I'll let them answer. I'm using 24" tiles on the wall so if they do say 12 is too big...I'm not going to read this again LOL

Sorry, I should have mentioned, we are going with a swanstone solid surface shower pan. No tile there.

I would say that it depends on the size of the shower. If you have a lot of space to tile I'd use larger squares or break it up with some wainscoating and do the top or bottom part of the tiles on a diagonal and the rest horizontally. 6 inch tiles for a wall do seem pretty small IMHO.

Mechanically speaking, there's no difference whatsoever. Aesthetically speaking, it's completely up to the likes and dislikes of the owner.

hi again,

thanks for the responses........it's a 60 x 34 shower. No tub. The tile we're thinking about is Portobello Jerusalem.
I thought that 6 in. might look too small also, but hubby seems to think that's what people do.

This is alot bigger than 60x34 with 6x6 tile. See what you think:

Bill- excellent as always, but my comment? That's a lot of grout to clean! All the more reason to use larger tiles IMHO.

compumom...DITTO. That was going to be my non-professional 2 cents worth :)

Thanks for the pic, Bill.........I think I want to go bigger. I think faster install and less grout to clean.

Just so you can see the difference, here's my shower (also bigger than 60X 34, but not that much), with 12" tiles.

Well, FINE!! BE that way!!

:-) (Just kidding)

LOL Bill!! You do great work!!! I have seen more of your pics, they all look fantastic!!! By the way, in case you check back.... do you think the floor tiles should be bigger and or a different color than what goes in the shower?? I am talking about the floor, not the shower floor. Would it look boring if it was all the same???
Thanks for your time!!

Would it look boring if it was all the same???

Not at all. It's what's known as "modular", where every surface ties into the others. The walls, floor, ceiling, tub deck, etc., all tie in together. but if you're going to do this, you need to make sure you've got an installer up to the task. It takes quite a bit of planning, and all surfaces had better be plumb and square. The last modular bathroom I did was years ago, and before the first tile went up, I spent a little better than a day, figuring my layout. You need to know exactly where every tile is going to set on every surface before you even mix the thinset.

Even the following bathroom-- although I didn't have to worry about the floor (being it was diagonal) still took some time, working it all out so the walls lined up with the ceiling and tubdeck, making sure I was abole to fall full tile on the deck (BEFORE it was completely constructed):

gorgeous!!! my bath is not nearly that impressive, just a basic 5x8.

I was afraid the shower floor would be too slippery with larger tiles, so I used a 2 x 2 mosaic tile for that. 12 x 12 straight up on the walls and 18 x 18 diagonally on the bathroom floor. Clean grout? What you talkin' bout? I had it double sealed and it's as clean as the day it was installed a year ago! (Caveat - we do NOT use bar soap.)